Search - Roky Erickson :: I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology

More Than Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye

K. H. Orton | New York, NY USA | 04/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What do you get when you mix Buddy Holly, Black Sabbath, Syd Barrett, & Robert Plant? Well, somewhere close to describing Roky Erickson. Best known as the frontman for the 13th Floor Elevators, it's easy to write Erickson off as another acid casualty. But where Syd Barrett mumbled in the corner about terrapins, Erikson's screaming his head off about Two Headed Dogs. If Screamin' Jay Hawkins was the Vincent Price of Rock & Roll, then at times, Erickson is the heir apparent. From the B-Horror film imagry to out & out Satanism, it's hard to gage whether it's all an act or the product of a seriously disturbed mind. But just because the guy's a little unhinged, that doesn't mean he's lost his sense of humor. Read the liner notes & get the whole sad story. None of that accounts for bittersweet ballads like, "Starry Eyes" or the biting wit of "Click Your Fingers Applauding The Play".



The 1st half of Disc 1 covers the best of his 13 Elevator days, including the Garage Rock classic, "You're Gonna Miss Me". Rarities like the gritty gem, "We Sell Soul" & the Dylanesque, "Right Track Now" only sweeten the deal. As for his post Elevators work, "Red Temple" & "Don't Shake Me Lucifer" rock as hard any AC/DC cut. The surreal reverie of "Been Here Before" certainly takes the edge off, despite Erickson's penchant for Satanic imagry. Disc II continues in this vein with the frightening "Bloody Hammer", & my personal favorite---"If You Have Ghosts". The scathing "Don't Slander Me" is another classic on par with "You're Gonna Miss Me". Yet, despite all the demons & the ghosts, Erickson's ballads betray another side. "Clear Night For Love" & "Nothing In Return" are as achingly tender as it gets. The likes of "True Love Cast Out All Evil" & "When You Get Delighted" are enough to make you think he found God.



Without a doubt one of Rock's great unsung cult artists, this long over due collection finally sheds some light on "where the pryamind meets the eye"."

Grungy, yowling, classic -- this is rock and roll

Glenn Becker | Arlington, MA USA | 04/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had long heard _of_ Roky Erickson, but hadn't _heard_ him until I saw on allmusic.com that this was out and, subsequently, sighted it in Tower Records and plunked down my money & took it home. It is the next day, I have NO REGRETS and I cannot look back ... for now I have really _heard_ Roky Erickson!



After buying this 2-CD set I peeled off the plastic and started listening to it on the subway ride home. The very first track, the extremely garage-y "We Sell Soul" took me by the ears and shook me out over the third rail. Listened to with one ear, it sounds like your typical gritty garage three-chorder ... but this weird undercurrent starts slithering into your _other_ ear (or is your third ear/eye?) and you realize this is something very different indeed. It has something _other_ in it and coming out of it ... the chords aren't quite typical, they don't resolve quite the way familiar blues-based rock does. It faces a wind coming from another direction and makes things unfamiliar and, yes, weird and scary. It drones.



... I am giving this an unequivocal 5 stars and I haven't even heard the 2nd disc, yet. I just can't help it.



I have read elsewhere that some people, having heard of the 13th Floor Elevators for years, were disappointed upon first listen. It's hard to imagine why, unless it's because they were only listening with the single unenlightened ear that reported back "well, this is just plain old garage music." What other band do you know that features an electric jug in addition to Roky's commanding-yet-desperate vocals? Open up _both_ ears!



If you love rock and roll and are deadly tired of the sludge waves of Britney, Whitney and other such tripe skirling around your sonic knees, I beg you to give this collection a listen. Here are the sounds of a man who has been through a grittier series of hells than most of us (we hope) will ever be able to imagine. He lived, and sings, and helps us make it through."

The perfect entry into Roky

Jersey Kid | Katy, Texas, America! | 02/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anthologies of any sort are fraught with peril for those both familiar or unfamiliar with an artist or genre. Regardless of the space allowed, there will likely always been those who complain about the inclusions and omissions and their impact on the representation. This risk will be often exacerbated by the breadth and depth of whatever is being anthologized. Nowhere is this more the case than in music. For those artists whose musical taste and styles are exploratory or progressive, the likelihood of alienation is omnipresent for both commercial releases and anthological works.



I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology manages to avoid those pitfalls. It presents both a tribute and a guide to the works and, by implication, the life of Roger Kynard (Roky) Erickson. The 43 song 2 CD package - with a 30 page narrative booklet - covers Roky's musical history from its garage rock roots with The Spades in 1965 to material from an album in 1995. In the sweep of songs - all but one at least co-authored by Erickson - we are presented with a wide range of musical styles but more so, we are presented with lyrics.



It is the words that are - if anything can be - the key to Rocky Erickson and his enduring popularity. The man has the capability to pull the most hard-wrenching emotions out of himself and the listener, exposing vulnerabilities, wishes, hopes, loves and fears. Whether garbed in the West Texas rockabilly tones of Buddy Holly (Starry Eyes) or raucous blues (Don't Shake Me Lucifer) or the most precious and loving ballad (I Don't Love You Yet), it is the message that Roky Erickson is sending that is of the greatest importance. These are stories about life and humanity; stories that are long on emotion and substance; songs that - if you listen carefully enough - mimic all that any of us think and feel.



He does this - as mentioned - in a variety of styles that is intellectually vertiginous and counter-intuitive. You will find yourself reaching for the discography often to try and understand whether the material you are hearing is leading-edge or derivative (it's the former!). There are punk-like descending chord cascades presented softly - almost delicately. Other songs seem to pre-sage modern country, though with lyrics more usually found in death-metal.



These internal musical conflicts mirror what was likely the internal conflict in the man himself. Arrested in 1969 for marijuana possession - allegedly for one joint - Roky was convinced (tricked?) to plead insanity and spent three years in an asylum where he was subjected to shock treatment and psychotropic drugs. Whether this abuse caused his mental instability or heightened an existing condition is unknown and probably irrelevant. The long and short of the story is that Roky spent the next 30 odd years in an emotional maelstrom that saw him unable to care for himself, with episodes in and out of treatment centers and jails, being subjected to the usual sort of misconduct from music industry executives, and generally taken advantage if by all and sundry. The new century saw a positive swing in Roky's fortunes as friends and family were finally able to obtain a legal guardianship that established a trust to care for him and that resulted in the production of this album.



But, do not buy this out of sympathy. Buy it for the beauty and depth and flavor of the music generated by this remarkable artist.

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